Summer fruits
Amos 8:1-14; 1/22/2023; BCBC/IOUC; Rev. Paul Wang
Introduction
This is the fourth vision of Amos, which is the fruit of summer. This is a metaphor, which means that the end is near. Because the summer fruit does not last long, if not eaten in time, it will soon rot. Let’s look at the first point:
Spare no more
As the so-called summer fruit shows vision, autumn and winter wait for spring sun. If you ask about the ending, look back at the Yangtze River! First, the contrast of seasons. Why summer fruit? In summer, the temperature in May in Israel may even exceed 40 degrees Celsius. Prophet Hosea said: “when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree. (Hosea 9:10)” Early ripening in spring, ripening in summer. This is why God wants the prophet to see. The Bible says: “This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit. (Amos 8:1)” If God took the initiative to issue instructions and asked the prophets to read them, there must be a reason! Because it doesn’t fit the season, right? Since the fruit is already ripe in spring, it should be harvested! Who waits until the fruit is ripe before harvesting it? Where did people go when it was time to harvest the fruit?
Second, what did you see? In just a few verses, “seeing” shows three times. Mentioned three times, it shows its importance! What did you see? It turned out to be a basket of summer fruits, which should be figs. When you see figs, what do you think of? Do you find it strange? Why are spring fruits harvested in summer? Today in China, what did you see? From the satellite image, it is not difficult to see the funeral procession line by line, and the queue of people waiting for the cremation. Did you see that? Do you see how many of them are people who have not heard the gospel? These people who have not yet believed in the Lord, they line up, where are they going? Just go to hell! Are you indifferent? Not only in China, but also in the whole world! What is the church doing? What are you and I waiting for? Do you have to wait until summer to harvest the spring fruit? It’s Late and is already rotten!
Finally, the end of summer fruits. “Summer fruit” and “end” both appear in the same verse. In the original text, they are homophones, expressing puns. It means that the summer fruit is a sign that the end is coming. What outcome? The prophet did not go around in circles , bluntly: “I will spare them no longer. (Amos 8:2)” The implication here is that we are always under God’s forgiveness. But one day, this forgiveness will have an end. Today, this warning comes upon us again. It is an indisputable fact that the Lord will come again, and it is imminent that the Lord will come soon. There is no doubt about it! The prophet Amos previewed the fruits of summer, did you see that? Forty years later, the northern kingdom of Israel showed us what was to come. Haven’t you understood yet? Let’s look at the second point:
Disaster strikes
When disaster strikes, maybe I’m not ready, right? But disaster doesn’t take into account how we feel, it just happens! First, poetry becomes wailing. Probably we all want to be happy, preferably healthy, right? A friend sent me a song: “I wish you health”. The contents of the lyrics are “health is happiness”. After hearing this, I asked: Is it happiness if you are healthy? What is happiness? During the Cultural Revolution, we felt very happy after singing Dongfanghong. Someone put Chairman Mao’s badge on his body, and then told everyone that he was very happy! What none of us could have imagined was that just as people were praising the great, glorious, correct party, and the great Chairman Mao, Lin Biao fell to his death in Undurhan, Mongolia. This is already the norm in the world! Amos prophesied here that one day, when the people of God were still singing hymns in the temple, the Assyrian Empire would march south and destroy the northern kingdom. At that time, even the king and the people were taken into captivity, and it became a reality that poetry turned into wailing.
Second, there must be consequences for doing evil. The prophet didn’t finish his words. He said that at that time, “Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!” This scene of corpses strewn all over the field is not uncommon in history. During the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, Lin Biao besieged Jinzhou in the northeast and starved to death hundreds of thousands of people. After breaking through Jinzhou, Lin Biao said: I will suffer retribution for this battle! In the end, he finally did as he said, the plane crashed, and he died together with his wife Ye Qun and son Lin Liguo. This is considered as a small scene of corpses strewn all over the field. The land of China that is going on today, no matter what percentage is used to estimate it, is a catastrophe full of corpses! Inferring the cause from the result, how much sin must have been committed? You can conceal the report, and you can make a lie, but you can’t pass the eyes of God! Cain killed Abel, God asked him: “Where is your brother abel”？Cain said: “I don’t know, am I my brother’s keeper? God said a word that could make the world tremble: “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!”
Finally, the earth is darkened by day. God said: “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. (Amos 8:9)” This is God’s response to man’s evil actions! Are you who devour the needy and bring down the afflicted? Will you deceive with deceitful scales? What? Will you still sell the spoiled wheat? You have money saved in Switzerland, but no money to buy Pfizer’s vaccine? The foreign minister went to Africa and waived 130 billion debts in Africa,but without money to pay the debts of local finance? Said: it is your own responsibility! Without money, the people would have no money to see a doctor and be admitted to the hospital for treatment, but a good friend of mine was deceived and brainwashed, saying that a strong country is already a national health insurance, and he believed it to be true! Do you know? If you reverse true and false, God will darken the earth in broad daylight! Do you think God can be mocked? Let’s look at the third point:
The inevitability of judgment
What is a judgment? Judgment means that God’s righteousness is manifested, and God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. First, turn your religious festivals into mourning. Israel is a nation that attaches great importance to festivals. Among them, the relatively large and main ones are the Feast of Tabernacles, Passover, and Shavuot. The holidays used to be a time for celebration, but not now. Why? Because you have done evil, and you have committed great crimes! It is no longer as simple as asking two girls to kneel on the streets of Guangzhou.
The Bible says: “you who trample the needy!” ”We may market wheat, skimping on the measure, boosting the price.” What is weigh with a small steelyard? It is the scale used to weigh valuables, such as gold, silver, antler, etc. Nucleic acid testing for the whole people is also a means of plucking wool and tyranny. Leading to people’s desperation, life is worse than death, organ transplantation, genocide! Already there are mourners everywhere, and people still need to sing praises for him!
Second, famine fell on the earth. The Four Horsemen in the Revelation, the white horse plague has come, the red horse war or persecution has come, and the blue horse death has come, will the black horse famine be far behind? God said to Amos: “ the granary of the Promised Land, “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. (Amos 8:11)” Elimelech in the Book of Ruth lived in Bethlehem, but because of the famine in the country, he led his family to Moab, the cursed land. As a result, his two sons died and were buried in a foreign country with him. In the days to come, the obvious economic crisis is just around the corner, so what should you prepare for? Is it worrying or listening to God’s words and trusting in God?
Finally, fell down and never got up again. After about forty years after the prophecy of the prophet Amos, the curse finally came. The Assyrian Empire really came, it really destroyed the northern kingdom, and it really took the king and the people away! The Bible says: “People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. Amos 8:12)” Seek the face of the LORD while He may be found! When the Titanic was about to sink, who was watching and praying? When the Northern Kingdom is about to perish, who is praying for her? Which one among us is praying for mercy for her when today is the first day of Chinese New Year? The Bible makes it clear: “ they will fall, never to rise again. (Amos 8:14)” Who are these people? Including you? Does that include your loved ones? Does that include your friends?
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters, have you tasted the fruit of summer? That’s a basket of summer fruits! Can you eat it? Peter said: “The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. (1 Peter 4:7)” Have you prayed? Do you write devotionals every day? Did you take notes during worship? Have you asked questions and participated in discussions in Sunday School? Are you involved in discipleship? Did you do your homework? Are you involved in church serving?
Let us pray……
Amos 8:1-14
1 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit.
2 “What do you see, Amos?” he asked. “A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered. Then the Lord said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
3 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “the songs in the temple will turn to wailing.[a] Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!”
4 Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land,
5 saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”—skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales,
6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.
7 The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.
8 “Will not the land tremble for this, and all who live in it mourn? The whole land will rise like the Nile; it will be stirred up and then sink like the river of Egypt.
9 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your religious festivals into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.
11 “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.
13 “In that day “the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst.
14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria—who say, ‘As surely as your god lives, Dan,’ or, ‘As surely as the god[b] of Beersheba lives’— they will fall, never to rise again.”
